Twenty-Five Things About Me

FaceBook friends are sending me invitations to list twenty-five things about me. I'm not introspective, so this is difficult and I am going to work on my list on this blog before I debut it on FaceBook.

1. I am a charter member of HOPE Church of Christ, a church my husband and I helped plant seven years ago with about 25 other people. We now number about 120 on a good Sunday.

2. I have been a foster mother, adoptive mother, step-mother and biological mother to five human beings.

3. I love to watch TV. I love reality shows like Dancing With the Stars and American Idol. I think real people are fascinating.

4. I love rock and roll. I am collecting the top 500 Rock and Roll songs (according to the Rolling Stone) for an iPod playlist.

5. I wear a ring inherited from my 98 year old great aunt Berta Bell. It was passed to her by some elderly cousins, so it is a prized possession. My daughter will get it someday, as it is a Leavell woman thing.

6. I like to scrapbook, make jewelry and read. I don't think I get to do enough of that. I also have a family website and try to act as a family historian.

7. I am a good cook, but don't do it very often.

8. I burn myself almost every time I cook.

9. I'd rather do marital therapy (I'm a therapist) than any other type of counseling.

10. I try to keep a daily gratitude journal. When I do this, I feel better.

11. I had a very secure childhood. I wish I had been able to give my own children as much security as I received from my own parents.

12. I have a calico cat named Lucy, but my husband calls her Boo Kitty or Baby Kitty, so she doesn't even know her own name. She can say "out!" very clearly, and we try to obey her and let her out of the house when she wants. She thinks she is a leopard.

13. My favorite stone is turquoise.

14. I look forward to being a grandmother someday, so I can have grandma camp every summer.

15. I'd rather go to the beach than to the lake.

16. I'm about to go on my fourth cruise with the girls.

17. A great date with my husband is movies and theatre popcorn with a diet coke.

18. I like Thanksgiving better than Christmas.

19. My housekeeper put up my Christmas tree the past two years and took it down. I loved that because I like to put it up, but I don't like to do it by myself.

20. I would have a dog, but I am never home and I don't want to do dog neglect.

21. I do want a bird of some kind. The last bird that I owned was a green parakeet that Phillip rescued from the back yard. He lived at my house for the next two years.

22. I would rather do almost anything but paperwork.

23. I love to work, and I am very happy at my office.

24. I am reading Hold Me Tight, by Sue Johnson.

25. I love to spend time with my women friends.